James and Lily - Young Love
by HarryPotterGirlForever
Summary: Well, it's basically a little love story between James and Lily. My first fanfic, so I welcome helpful criticism but do bear in mind I don't have much experience. sorry if it's a bit romantic or not to your liking, but I'm just doing it as good as I can. Please review, I'd love to hear what you think! Thanks! -IN PROGRESS
1. The invitation

**The Invitation**

James stared down the table, oblivious to Sirius talking animatedly next to him. Oblivious to Peter attempting to turn his goblet into a mouse. Oblivious to everyone and everything around him, except for one girl. A girl with fiery red hair and a small, cheerful face splattered with freckles. She, however, was not as interested in him as he was in her. She was just as oblivious to James Potter as James was to everyone else. Lily Evans was far too busy chatting excitedly to her best friends: Ursula, Charlie, Kat and Yvonne. They called themselves _Lucky_, mainly because their first initials spelt the word lucky. But everyone said it was because they were very lucky pupils; superbly smart, extremely good-looking and very, very popular with everybody – teachers and pupils. James personally thought she was the prettiest of them all, with her wavy red hair falling almost to her waist and startling green eyes.

"Oh come _on_ Lily, I know when I see a boy who's transfixed on a girl and I'm telling you! James was staring at _you_!" Yvonne exclaimed to her friend for the second or third time in as many minutes. Yvonne was desired by most of the boy population of the school; she had straight black hair which fell to the top of her stomach and tanned skin. Her eyes were a deep, brooding brown, almost as black as her hair. Lily put down her toast and looked up at Yvonne, looking her squarely in her sparkling eyes. Yvonne didn't even flinch. "Look Yvonne, it's no secret about James' feelings. And so _what_ if he's staring? He's probably not even watching me; all of you girls are a sight to behold as well," she retorted, not really believing this was the case. Charlie must have seen the doubt in her eyes, because she raised her eyebrows at her. "Oh puh-lease Lily! James Potter is eyeing you up like you're a meal on legs!" she grinned, beckoning slightly with her head at the dark-haired, good-looking boy sat at the other end of the table. Lily sighed; she knew she would not be able to convince the girls that James was goggling at her _this_ time. Kat, the stereotypical blonde in their group, put a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder. "Don't worry Lily. James wouldn't _dare_ coming over here with all us girls around you. We scare him too much!" here she giggled and turned to face the other _Lucky_ girls. "So come on then girls, are we just gonna sit here and let James stare at Lily like that? Or are we going to do something about it!?" she cried enthusiastically at the others. The other girls, Yvonne especially, all cheered and stood up, starting to make their way over to the end of the table. But before they had got 2 steps, Lily had grabbed a fistful of their clothing and pulled them back, hissing; "what are you guys _doing_!?You are not going over to James Potter to tell him to back off!" Yvonne and Charlie exchanged a glance.

"You're right Lils, we weren't going to tell James Potter to back off," Charlie began, glancing at Yvonne nervously again. Lily seemed to relax a bit in her seat, then asked, "Well what were you going to do then?" a frown appearing in her smooth features. Kat giggled again as Yvonne replied, "We were going to ask him out for you!" and they all raced off before you could have said 'Stupify'. Not that Lily would have said that; the more likely thing to be on her mind at that specific point in time would have been something more like 'What!? Get back here now!' or 'Don't you dare!' As it was, she was left there spluttering as her friends ran off to James Potter.

Sirius tutted at his best friend good-naturedly as he realised James was not paying attention to his story. It was a good one as well; he was explaining how he had escaped Filch while cornered in a corridor. However, when he had seen that James' gaze was fixed on something else, he knew straight away what, or rather _who_, he was looking at. "Honestly Prongs, you could at least be subtle," he told his partner in crime, who was practically drooling at Lily. Suddenly, James' head snapped round as he realised Sirius had been talking. "Whu-?" he asked uncomprehendingly, obviously not hearing anything that had just been said. Sirius smirked and replied, "Why are you looking at me now? If _I_ were you, I'd be more interesting in Lily's friends all running at you right now…" he nodded over James' shoulder casually. For the second time that breakfast, James whirled his head round to look the other way. But this time, the sight was not as nice as Sirius' friendly face. This time, he was confronted with a menacing, panting group of girls running full-pelt across the dining area. As James scanned the group, he quickly saw that Lily was not among them.

Kat followed slightly behind the other _Lucky_ girls as they ran over to the Marauders. She was not that athletic. Nevertheless, she arrived at about the same time as the other girls and was the first to speak to the slightly worried boys in front of them. "Hey boys," she purred, "Want to spend the night with some girls?" she asked, winking at James. James gulped. "Wh-who will be there?" he asked, stuttering. Charlie came forward then, brushing her green, metamorphmagus hair back from her face. When she was standing right in front of James, she narrowed her eyes in concentration and as they watched, her features gradually morphed into Lily's. Freckles appeared on her previously clear cheeks, and her hair went from green to blonde to Lily's startling red. All of a sudden, James scraped his chair back and stood up. He walked the short distance to Charlie and grabbed her in his arms. All the girls, and Sirius, gasped as James pulled her close to him. Then he looked up into her eyes…

Charlie suddenly found herself back in the midst of the girls, her appearance back to her normal frizzy green hair and clear cheeks as she lost focus. She had forgotten to change her eyes, and when james had looked into them, he had realised himself and shoved her roughly away, returning to his seat. Sirius patted his shoulder comfortingly. Then he turned back to face the girls. "So, is this invitation open to all the marauders, or…?" he asked, fixing his gaze on the young witches. Ursula stepped forward, and spoke for the first time. And although it was a simple, ordinary sentence, practically all heads on the Gryffindor table turned towards her as they heard her melodic, sweet voice ring out calmly. "All the marauders are welcome to join us. Common room at eight. See you then." she smiled, and then walked briskly back to her seat, the others following her. Ursula didn't like to speak often, as she was part Veela and her voice made everyone in the vicinity stop and listen.

Lily was furious when the other _Lucky_ girls arrived back. "Well what did you say to him? Hmm?" she asked, curious despite her anger. Yvonne grinned at her best friend. "Oh don't worry Lils, we just invited them to a sort of get-together tonight. All of them. And all of us. Nothing that could be classed as a date!" she told Lily reassuringly. Lily sighed with relief at this, and perked up a little when she heard that they would all be there. "All right then guys. I guess that's ok." She replied, a smile splitting her face and bringing out her dimples. "Well we'd better get to class now, come on!"


	2. The get-together

**The get-together**

James was panicking. They were supposed to meet the girls in the common room at 8 and it was already 7:30, and James had no idea what to think. Sirius and the others were acting like it was no big deal, but he was freaking out. What if he said something stupid and Lily hated him forever? He would _never_ be able to live with himself if that happened.

He had just decided to sneak out of the common room under his invisibility cloak and ditch the party, when Sirius clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey Prongs, you ready?" he asked cheerily. James sighed and turned to his friend. "Yeah, I'm great. Are you ready?" he asked casually, trying to hide his nerves. Sirius laughed and gestured at himself. "Well I've got my charm switched on, if that's what you mean," he joked, "What else should I have?" James looked nervously around for some inspiration. "Umm…" then he spotted something on the bedside table. "Some firewhiskey!" he cried, and Sirius grinned. "Way ahead of you, my friend," he said, gesturing to a bag by the door.

Suddenly, the clock in the corner _ding_ed and James realised it was eight. How had that half hour gone so quickly? Before he could ponder on this, however, he had been bustled downstairs by Sirius. Five girls were in the common room, waiting. Four of them looked really excited and were grinning enthusiastically. One of them, the _L_ in their _Lucky_ group, looked like she had only begrudgingly agreed to join in with this. James smiled; that was his Lily. Always hiding her true feelings – that she loved him and was thrilled to have a night with him. Or so James told himself.

Lily was much more nervous about the party than she let on. Not because she had feelings for Potter; that was ridiculous! She was worried because she thought he might get the wrong idea from this night. He might think that she _did_ like him! And that would be terrible. As it was, he took every opportunity to flirt with her and ask her out. _But no_, she told herself, _this is just a party. He knows that._ At that moment, Charlie came over to her and said excitedly, "It is five to eight! Come on, let's get downstairs!" Lily looked puzzled at her friend.

"But we said to meet at 8…" she said, trailing off. Charlie sighed and sat down next to Lily. "_Yes_, but you always have to arrive before you agree to meet because then it seems like you've been waiting a while. And they apologise, so you're on top already!" she explained slowly, as if talking to a toddler. Lily raised an eyebrow at her friend. "But what do we care about being on top? We're all friends!" Charlie sighed again. "_You_ may think that, but I assure you, Potter isn't thinking of this as a friendly get-together." She said knowingly, "Now come on! Let's _go_!" and with that, she grabbed Lily by the arm and tugged her downstairs.

The girls had barely been waiting two minutes when the marauders came down the stairs, Sirius at the front with a suspicious-looking bag clutched in his hand. James was at his heels, and Lily couldn't quite gauge the expression on his face. Was it… Worry? Excitement? Unlike normal, James' face was hard to read. She crossed her arms and tried to make herself look indifferent at the whole affair. But inside, her stomach was churning. Remus greeted her warmly, asking about her day and trying to make conversation, but after a few questions that only got one or two syllable answers, he realised she was distracted and went off. After a few minutes of idle chatting, Sirius opened his bag. Everyone craned their necks to see what was inside and he smiled smugly when he saw he was the centre of attention. "So everyone's got nothing better to do than look at me, huh?" he asked cockily. Lily gave him a playful punch on the shoulder and said, "We're interested in the bag, not you!" Sirius grinned and pulled out two bottles from the bag. "Here we are: Firewhiskey!" he cried out, obviously expecting cheers. But the girls just looked at him in shock. "Sirius, where did you get that?" asked Kat nervously. Sirius frowned, surprised at the reaction he got. "Umm… well, I got it from the kitchens. Like normal. Why?" he asked, growing more worried by the second. Lily took one of the bottles and studied it, reading the label carefully. "Sirius, this isn't firewhiskey," she started, but before she could continue, James snatched the bottles away. He ran up into the boys' common room with the bottles. Everyone stared after him. "What was it then, if it wasn't firewhiskey? I'm sure I got firewhiskey…" Sirius asked, still staring at the staircase that James had run up. Charlie grinned and said, "It was love potion. And Potter took it, which means it must be his! Potter has love potion!" Sirius jumped up and ran up the stairs after James. A moment later, they both came back down, James holding out some glasses and a bottle of firewhiskey. He handed a glass to each person and waved his wand over them, muttering something under his breath. Each glass filled to the brim with frewhiskey, and at the same time, the liquid in the bottle went slowly down. Lily raised her eyebrows, impressed. James smiled smugly at her. "Drink up, Evans," he said and took a sip of his own. Lily studied her own glass. Whereas everyone else had a light amber colour, hers was a little darker, as if something had been mixed into it… shrugging, she raised the glass to her lips, and she was just about to drink it when Ursula shrieked. "No! Don't drink it! He's put love potion in it!" she cried, grabbing the glass from Lily. She turned on Potter, furious, and shouted, "How dare you try to drug my friend!" James shrank back under her beautiful, angry voice and whispered, "It… It's not drugged. Just a little darker than the others. It's fine!" Ursula stared crossly at him. "It is drugged and I can prove it!" she shouted, before triumphantly taking a swig of Lily's drink. James cried out and lunged forward, but it was too late. Ursula's eyes glazed over for a moment before she turned to James. "You know, Potter," she started, while James backed away fearfully, "I've always had a thing for you." And with that, she grabbed a startled James and pulled him towards her, bringing her lips up to his. The rest of the group stared in astonishment Ursula kept James in a tight embrace, her lips locked on his. They could do nothing but stare, until Charlie blinked and broke the spell. Lily jumped up, wrestled the two apart, and slapped James on the cheek. Then she marched upstairs, pulling a drugged Ursula behind her. The remaining people watched James carefully, as he rubbed his smarting cheek. "What?" he grumbled, before making his way upstairs. Kat looked at the half-empty glass of love potion firewhiskey and grabbed it, taking it upstairs to Lily and Ursula. Charlie followed her up a moment later, but Yvonne lingered behind. "Did you know about the love potion?" she asked Sirius accusingly, giving him her best death-stare. Sirius held his hands up defensively, saying, "I swear, I didn't. That's why I didn't realise the bottle was love potion not firewhiskey. James must have switched them by mistake." Yvonne nodded, satisfied, and turned to go upstairs like the others. But something made her stop. She turned uncertainly and looked at Sirius. He was staring at her, with a strange mixture of emotions swimming in his eyes. _Emotions? Sirius having emotions?_ She thought to herself, confused at this. Sirius never showed his emotions. "Can you… Can you tell Ursula that I'm sorry." He said, practically whispering. Yvonne had to physically lean forward to hear. "it wasn't your fault, Sirius. You didn't know." She replied softly, finally identifying the emotion in his eyes. _Guilt._ "But I'll tell her." She finished, the turned and went upstairs.


	3. An accident in the corridor

**An accident in the hall**

Lily was hurrying down the hallway, her arms full of books and her head down, when she bumped into him. She tripped and fell forward, her hair flying out and her arms landing awkwardly beneath her. The books were no longer in her arms, and Lily realised she had thrown them in the air when she fell. _But where were they now_, she wondered, just before they fell down and hit her on the head. Lily blacked out.

"Wake up, oh please. I'm going to be in so much trouble if you don't wake up. Are you still in there? _Please_ tell me you're only asleep…" A boy, the same boy she hit in the hall, was whispering in her ear. Lily was only just aware of this; she was feeling very drowsy and her head was thumping unpleasantly where the books had hit her. _Who was he_? Lily hadn't seen his face before she fell over him, but he must have cared about her a bit or at least been guilty if he was here with her now. Speaking of which, where _was_ here? Her eyes flickered as she struggled to open them, fighting the tempting thoughts of sleep. She caught a glimpse of white, clean beds and polished walls. The hospital wing, she realised. Had her fall been that bad? Now that she wondered that, she suddenly felt searing pain running up and down her right arm. She had fallen on it! The voice was speaking to her again, she realised with a jolt.

"You look so peaceful there… I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't see you, I was talking to Fred and Charlie… When you wake up, I hope you forgive me. I'd like to get to know you, I think we're in the same year…" he was babbling now, overcome with fear that the girl before him would not wake up. Maybe she was in a coma! Or maybe when she did wake up, she'd be completely furious with him. He didn't know the girl, but she was pretty. _Very _pretty. Her eyes were shut at the moment, but he thought he'd seen a flash of bright green before she had fallen. And her hair… Waves of lush red fell past her shoulders, at the moment spread out around her on her pillow. Even though she looked so happy and calm lying there, he wanted so much for her to wake up.

James had been in the middle of homework when he'd heard about the accident. Well, he'd had his homework book out in front of him, but in reality, he was helping Sirius flick things at an annoying boy the other side of the common room. The boy was a year above them and was very determined to prove it. But he'd stopped immediately when Ursula had run in panting, a stricken look on her captivating face. Her brow was furrowed in worry and her features were transformed by her look of determination. She ran over to James and Sirius lounging by the fire. "Have you seen the girls?" she asked breathlessly, trying to recover from her long run to the common room. James looked around the common room for them, then shook his head. "No, why? Is a certain red-headed girl looking to ask me out?" he grinned, excited at the thought. Ursula rolled her eyes and turned to Sirius. Even though she was worried sick about her friend, her heart did a little dance when she saw him. "Do you… know where they are?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound less urgent and desperate; it made her look weak. Sirius nodded at the staircase to the girl dormitories. "Probably up there, if anywhere," he said, before asking, "What's happened? You look pretty upset." Ursula went forward and collapsed on the seat next to him. She _was_ upset and she wanted more than anything for him to reach forward and comfort her. Before, she had though that she would just have to swallow her feelings as nothing would _ever_ come out of them, but the party had given her hope. It was a couple of days ago now, but she still remembered it; she had gone upstairs with Lily after the _completely_ embarrassing moment of kissing Potter. Then Yvonne had come and said that Sirius was _sorry_. Surely that meant something!? Stirring back to the present, Ursula turned back to Sirius. She lay back on the armchair, having to squeeze a bit so they all fitted on. "Oh Sirius! It's Lily…" At this, James' head shot up, suddenly interested in what had happened. "What about Lily?" he asked urgently. Ursula smiled sadly at his reaction. She wished she had a boy who cared that much for her. She swallowed that thought as soon as it entered her mind, however, because she realised she had _dozens_ of admirers. Everyone wanted to be with her. But there was only one guy she wanted to be with, and that was the boy squashed up next to her on the chair. "She had a collision with this boy the other day, Dave I think his name was, and she's in the hospital wing! I think she broke her arm cause she landed on it, and she's got a bad bruise on her head where her books hit her, too." James jumped up, furious, and started towards the portrait hole. "Where are you going?" she called after him. He turned back to face her, angrier than she'd ever seen him. "No boy puts Evans in hospital without going through _me_!" he cried out, before dashing off the hospital wing. Sirius smiled apologetically at Ursula, who was sure her heart skipped a beat. "Sorry… That boy is gonna have a nasty fright when James gets there." Ursula chuckled, aware of many boys in the common room watching them enviously. A few girls, too, were giving her death stares; Why couldn't _they_ be like her – with the perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect everything… But her life was far from perfect, even if she was the only one who knew it. "I guess we'd better go stop him from putting Dave in hospital, too!" she said, standing up. Sirius grinned and followed her example, offering her his hand. She took it happily, and together they raced off in search of James.


	4. Hospital Dreams

**Hospital dreams**

James burst out of the common room, giving a couple of first years outside who had forgotten the password a nasty fright. He ran straight past two fifth year hufflepuffs snogging at the side of the hall without giving them a glance, his mind completely focused on getting to the hospital wing as fast as he could. _I am gonna kill that boy!_ He thought angrily as he rounded a corner. _How dare he hurt my Lily! He is going to PAY for that!_ Finally, he arrived at the entrance. However, when he attempted to throw the doors open dramatically, James found that they were locked. He banged on them, he shouted for Madame Pomfrey, but to no avail. He was left outside in the corridor, out of breath and looking like a complete idiot. Exhausted at his exertions, James sank down to the floor with his back to the doors.

Meanwhile, inside the hospital wing, Lily was a very confusing dream. At first, she had been in a world of books, and she was happy there. But there was something missing and she couldn't tell what, so rather than try to work it out, she buried herself in getting knowledge from the vast library that surrounded her. Then, another person had come to the library. It was a boy; a messy haired, irritating rule-breaker. Lily wasn't sure, but she thought his name was Plotter or Jamie or something like that. She had really hated the strange boy at first, because he was everything that she was not – popular, handsome and someone that all the girls wanted. Lily thought he was the complete opposite of her, she didn't think she was any of those things. Her hair was a most unusual colour, red, and it stuck out from the sea of blondes and brunettes around her like a pigmy puff in the owlery. And her eyes… she'd always hated her deep green eyes. Practically no one had green eyes, which also made her different from most people. And with both of these features, Lily had always thought she looked like a walking, talking Christmas tree. A freak show. _Definitely_ not popular. So why was this amazing boy, Jamie Plotter, putting up with her all the time? He seemed to use every opportunity to be as close to her as he could. She had always resented this about him, because it made it seem like he was being next to her to make himself seem even better. Why didn't he see that his dazzling features and amazing personality made her uncomfortable to be around him? Especially when he put on this show of fancying her and pretending to ask her out all the time… Sometimes, she wanted to say yes to those requests so much that she actually had to _insult_ him so that he would leave her alone for a little while! But he always came back, and she was always glad.

So for a while it was just her and Plotter in the giant library school, for Lily had a feeling that it was a school. But now, something had happened. She had been running down a corridor of the library when another person appeared. This person was also a boy, and they had come so suddenly that she crashed into him and fallen… fallen… Now Lily was feeling great pain, and in her dream she thought she had been damaged badly. Her arm was twisted at a very bad angle and she was in agony. Lily could feel that the boy she crashed into was still there in the library corridor, but after the collision, the library had slipped away and now she was at the bottom of a deep, deep abyss. She was lying on the surprisingly soft floor, nothing more than a bedraggled redhead spread out pathetically. But she knew he was still there. The boy, she had decided to call him The Surpriser, because he had surprised her and caused all this to happen, was at the very top of the hole, where the library was. He was saying things… Saying things to her, but she didn't understand why because she was so boring. Surely the boy had better things to do? She couldn't see him very well, he was quite fuzzy because he was so far away, but she got an idea of long blonde hair and light blue eyes. He was looking down at her anxiously and his mouth was moving up and down as he said things… She squinted up at him and tried to focus on his words.

"Please… I feel bad… Such a pretty face… Your arm… An accident…" Lily heard snippets of sentences and tried to piece them together. But however hard she concentrated, the pain just shot through her and all of her thoughts were scattered. So instead she started working on getting back to the library, where The Surpriser and Jamie Plotter and her beloved books were. Getting to her feet, Lily clawed at the walls of the hole, trying to find purchase on the treacherous walls. But she could never get more than a metre off the ground, for as she moved to grab another bit of the dirt walls, it just crumbled in her hands and she found herself back on the floor. After about an hour of trying this, Lily gave up and sank down onto the ground.

Dave was more worried than ever. It had been many hours since Lily had been brought to the hospital wing and although her arm was mending slowly, she showed no signs of waking up. He had had a brief conversation with Madame Pomfrey and she had thought that by now, Lily would at least be stirring. But there she lay, as still as a statue. He just didn't understand it. Dave had been talking to her the whole time, basically just repeating himself over and over – saying that he was sorry, he wanted her to forgive him, he thought she was beautiful, her arm was mending and it was nothing to worry about, and that it was an accident. But nothing changed! He could see her chest rising and falling rhythmically as she breathed, but that was it. Suddenly, he was struck with an idea. Dave glanced around the room; it was empty. Over the hours he'd been sitting with her here, Dave realised he had actually become quite attracted to the redhead. After all, she was extremely good looking. So, his palms sweating, Dave went over to the hospital door and locked it, before going back over to the bed and sitting down beside the sleeping girl quietly. Then, before he could have second thoughts, Dave leaned down and pressed his lips lightly against hers. The result was instant; Lily's eyes shot open as she was yet again surprised by The Surpriser, and as Dave went to pull away quickly, he found that she had put her arm on his back and wasn't letting him go. The beautiful girl was kissing him fiercely and Dave was enjoying it immensely. The two students didn't even hear the banging on the door as James arrived, or his urgent shouts for Madame Pomfrey. They stayed locked in this tight embrace for as long as they could, until Dave had to surface for air. When they finally broke apart, Dave realised that the nurse had come and unlocked the doors after hearing James' shouts. Turning round, his face bright red, he saw a fuming, messy-haired boy standing behind them that he instantly recognised as James Potter, the infamous marauder. And with that realisation came another, more shocking one; the girl he had broken the arm of and been kissing was Lily Evans. Probably the smartest girl in school and known crush of James. James, the boy standing in front of him now, having just witnessed that scene. James, the boy who now had his wand raised threateningly at him. James, the boy who was shouting a spell at him now. James, the last thing Dave saw before he was thrown across the room and knocked unconscious…


	5. An argument

_Thanks soo much to everyone who has reviewed so far! It really means the __**world**__to me when I see that someone has taken the time to tell me what they thought!_

_I don't own any of the people and stuff, except for the UCKY gang. The L is J.K's work _

**An argument**

Lily was let out of the hospital wing later that day, and the first thing she did was track down James Potter. After traipsing through half the castle, looking in every broom closet and detention classroom she came to, Lily finally found him in the Common Room. _Typical_, she thought. James saw her enter through the portrait hole and started backing away, but Sirius held him back, murmuring, "It's going to happen at some point. You may as well get it over with, Prongs." James scowled but stayed his ground, by which time Lily had marched over and was looking as angry as James had ever seen her; red hair knotted like she'd been running around and green eyes blazing. "JAMES POTTER!" she roared, and every head in the common room turned to watch the argument. James winced. "Shout a bit louder, I think Snape in the Slytherin Common Room didn't hear you," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. This just made Lily even more furious, if possible. "Oh shut it, Potter! You are the most horrible, ignorant, selfish-," at this, James grew angry too.

"Selfish? Selfish! I was only protecting you!" Lily gaped at him, seething with anger, her eyes narrowed. "Saving me from what? From a happy relationship with the nice boy? I'm not yours to save, Potter!" Lily stepped forward menacingly and James shrank away. "He's probably never going to talk to me again now," she continued, with sadness in her voice now, too. "You've probably scared him away! Do you know how hard it is for me to find someone who actually _likes_ me!? It's very hard! Because no one would date someone like _me_ when there are people who are actually pretty, and interesting, and clever, and loveable… Not that you'd know about that, since you're mister James Perfect Potter!" she spat his name, breathing heavily and her eyes threatening tears. When it was clear she had finished her rant, James stepped back towards her, his voice steady despite his furious expression. "You think you're not _pretty_, Evans? You actually think you're not petty! Lily, any guy would be an IDIOT not to go out with you if he had the chance!" James stepped forward again and gently ran a hand up her arm. This time, his voice was soft, so only she could hear. "Lily, don't ever think that you're not good enough for _any_ guy in this school. You could get anyone you wanted. _Anyone_. Including me." He looked at her, his hazel eyes staring deep into hers, and the fire in her gaze subsided a bit. Not much, but enough for James to know she was thinking about what he had said. "You… you mean it?" she asked quietly. James gave a small nod and his hand slowly went down her arm, until he was holding her hand. To his surprise, she didn't drop it. "Lily… I mean every word." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked gingerly, "Even the bit about… about me being able to get anyone?" James nodded again, his breath caught in his throat. _Is she thinking about me? Does she want to get me? _These thoughts raced through James' head and he stared at her hungrily, waiting for her to say something. Lily opened her mouth and James but his lip. "So would that mean…" she started cautiously, her eyes never leaving James. "Would that mean… I've still got a chance with Dave!" she ended, her eyes wide in delight. James looked down quickly so she wouldn't see his disappointment. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess so." James stole a glance upwards to see her grinning happily and starting towards the portrait hole. He looked down again. "But listen, Lily… He's not good enough for you! No one is good enough for you! And I'm saying I'm not good enough either…" He took a deep breath, then said quickly: "but I'm willing to try to be good enough. I'll be the best I can be for you, Lily, if you'll give me a chance. I promise. So… will you give me a chance?" finally he looked up, expecting her stunned face before him, or even an angry face. But he was greeted by nothing. Lily had left and hadn't heard any of it. He turned back to the rest of the marauders and slumped gloomily back into his chair. Sirius leaned forward and clapped him on the back. "That sounded great, prongs. It's good to practise!" James slapped his hand away half-heartedly and leaned back in the armchair.

Lily had ran excitedly out of the common room, before she realised she had no idea where Dave was. Then she realise he'd probably still be in the hospital wing, unconscious from James' spell. Lily hoped James was getting punished for that; it was unprovoked and just _childish_. But at the same time, she wondered why he'd done it. Jealousy? She snorted; that was unlikely. Jealous of what? Obviously not jealous of Dave for kissing her, why would Potter care about that? Maybe just jealous of them kissing while he wasn't – he did make a point of kissing the most girls. And although he'd kissed almost the entire female population of their year, Lily wasn't one of those 'lucky' few. So maybe he was just annoyed that Dave had beaten him to it. Not that Lily would _let_ Potter kiss her, of course. There was no way she'd _ever_ go near that egotistical pig's mouth.

Finally, Lily arrived back at the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey seemed surprised to see her back there, but when Lily gestured to Dave she smiled knowingly and let her in. Lily rushed over to Dave lying in the bed and stroked a bit of loose hair out of his eyes. Dave looked ok but he was either still unconscious or asleep; she could see his chest gently rising and falling. "I'm sorry about James." She murmured in his ear. Then she shrieked as Dave's eyes fluttered and he stirred in his sleep. Madame Ponfrey immediately bustled over, moving Lily to the side as she examined the boy. "He's alright, it was just _Stupify_. Dave, Dave can you hear me?" Dave groaned and rolled over, his eyes opening. "What happened?" he asked groggily. Madame Pomfrey smiled at him. Mr Potter made an unexpected entrance and interrupted you two… I'll leave you alone." She said, giving them both a knowing look. She turned to go, but shot Lily a subtle wink before she left. The red-head rolled her eyes and leaned in to Dave. "Dave, listen… I'm really grateful for you for staying with me while I was in here, and I'm _so_ sorry for Potter-," Dave interrupted Lily mid-apology with a fleeting kiss on her lips, leaning back straight after, blushing. Lily smiled at him. "I'll take that as my apology is accepted?" she asked jokily. Dave locked eyes with her and took her hand in his. "Of course, Lily. It was my fault. You and James, he had a right to knock me out." Lily gasped at him, almost angrily.

"What do you mean 'he had a right'!? We're not going out, I have a right to snog whomever I want!" Dave cringed as she said that, as if regretting the kiss. "Why did you say that he has a right to me, because he doesn't. We're separate people. He knows that, I know that… Do you know that?" Dave looked at her seriously.

"Are you sure he knows that? Because it didn't look like he did… When he was outside, I think I heard him banging on the doors to be let it. And one of the things I heard him say was 'let me see my Lily.' I know you're not a couple, but he obviously thinks of you as his." Lily frowned, thinking back to then. "And I really like you, Lily. I mean, you're smart… pretty… funny… But I can't get in the middle of you and James' situation. It's obvious he has strong feelings for you and however much I may like you, I don't think I'd be able to cope if he shot a curse at me every time we held hands." He ended jokily, but the meaning was clear to Lily. "So… can we part friends?" he asked, squeezing her hand comfortingly. Lily nodded and tried to hold back the tears welling up inside her. Why was she crying, anyway? She barely knew this guy, so why did she care so much that he didn't want anything to do with her? Slowly, she stood up on shaky feet and turned around. "Lily…? Are… Are you ok?" he asked cautiously. "Yeah." She said, then groaned inwardly at how wobbly her voice sounded. She tried again. "Yeah." This time she said the word more powerfully. "I'm fine, Dave. Great, in fact. Well, I've got homework to do… See you around." With that, she scurried from the hospital wing, leaving a confused and sad Dave behind, already regretting his decision.


End file.
